Innovative solutions would make the most of Houston’s HOV system.
Innovative solutions would make the most of our HOV system
FINISHING a recent business trip to San Francisco, too far from a BART rail station to take me to the airport, the Uber app asked me if I wanted to try UberPool, a new Uber service that combines pickups for passengers with a shared destination. I said, “Why not?” to the extra passenger. A few blocks from our start, the driver said we had a “hit”. He diverted two blocks and a friendly software saleswoman hopped in, and off we went. For an extra five minutes, my ride from downtown San Francisco to the airport came in at $18.46. That translates to $42 in savings for our start-up energy company, one less car on crowded streets, and one tiny step toward a more efficient transportation system.
Houston is drowning in traffic. Despite billions of dollars spent on Interstates 610 and 10 and U.S. 59 less than a decade ago, these roads now rank among the most congested in the state. Future highway expansions are years off and face uncertain funding. We aren’t due for any new rail systems for at least another decade, and it’s a wide-open question as to whether we can muster the leadership such infrastructure investments require.
Let’s take a close look at the innovation happening on the left coast. In California, the convergence of technology and the sharing economy are spawning new ideas that put what we love in Houston — the passenger car and pavement — to dramatically more efficient uses. We should do everything we can to pave the way for companies like these to put Houston at the top of their list for their expansion plans. Harris County and the city of Houston should create a joint “Office of Transportation Innovation” to help reel them in.
Innovations abound. For instance, like UberPool, an app developed by Ride bundles together employees who work at the same location. The driver furthest away is designated as the driver. The app pays the driver, everyone saves money and they can all get to work more quickly on HOV lanes. Carmacarpool and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority recently
launched a program last year to reimburse drivers up to 100 percent of their toll fees on 183A and the 290 toll road if three or more passengers are in the vehicle. That program has now expanded to include all Austin toll roads.
San Francisco-based shuttle service Chariot uses an algorithm to bundle riders and create new routes — at a significant time and dollar savings to traditional single-car commutes. Launched last year with one route, it now has six routes around San Francisco. New routes are added in response to crowdsourced customer requests, not through a centralized planning process.
Google is experimenting with its pilot RideWith, which matches people who have similar rush-hour commutes. Ride With is geared toward commuters with longer travel times needing a regular car-sharing schedule.
Smarter transportation systems won’t happen overnight or in a vacuum. Houston’s transportation system does have key advantages. Over a period of decades, we have built one of the best HOV systems in the country. As technology innovations more efficiently bring drivers and passengers together, and as long as we protect the integrity of HOVs by stepping up enforcement, our HOVs can provide the foundation for more efficient transportation.
Houstonians by and large have come to understand that there are few highway free lunches. As we muster the political courage to continue to use pricing to manage congestion, we’ll have one more incentive to fill up cars and split toll costs — and all the simpler if our apps divvy up the EZ Tag tolls between drivers and passengers.
Another piece of the puzzle is the slow movement toward a walkable environment — the underpinning to just about every transit solution, both traditional and 21st century. With the proper physical and policy grounding, we can actively recruit the transportation entrepreneurs to our city. By rolling out the welcome mat for innovators, we can begin to put a dent in what can otherwise seem like an intractable problem.